Luzardo's 12-K gem puts bow on bounceback year

MIAMI -- Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo’s 2022 season began on a high with a career-high 12-strikeout performance. He bookended his campaign by matching that total across six innings in Monday night’s 4-0 victory over the Braves at loanDepot park.

Luzardo, who in 2021 not only missed time due to a fractured left hand but also posted a 6.61 ERA and was traded to his hometown club, saw his greatest growth as a big league pitcher in ‘22. Although he missed more than two months with a left forearm strain, he returned to go at least six frames in nine of 12 starts while compiling a 3.03 ERA. Monday marked Luzardo’s second scoreless outing of the season, and it also snapped a stretch of nine consecutive starts of his the Marlins had lost.

“I try not to look at numbers and stuff like that, but for sure health, which obviously [involved] the injury, but I finished the year strong and finished it healthy, and I'm just glad that I was able to come back and bounce back off of last year,” Luzardo said. “I felt like last year was so much of -- I wouldn't even say up and downs -- just mainly downs. So being able to come back this year and maintain, come bounce back off bad starts, was really important to me.”

After the first two batters reached to open the game, Luzardo turned to his slurve and four-seamer to strike out National League Rookie of the Year Award front-runner Michael Harris II, Austin Riley and Matt Olson in order.

Luzardo retired 11 of the next 14 batters he faced. A big reason for Luzardo’s turnaround lies in his ability to throw strikes. He recorded a 5.0 BB/9 rate last season. It decreased to 3.14 in 2022; Monday was just the second time he didn’t issue a walk. Luzardo credits trusting his stuff in the zone, knowing it’ll play.

"I think he was more than pretty good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He gets locked in with that changeup and he has a great sinker. He has really great stuff. I think it was more than anything tonight."

The next step for Luzardo will be getting over the mental hurdle of the seventh inning, per manager Don Mattingly. In Luzardo’s previous two starts to go that long, he was chased by a homer.

Mattingly found it encouraging that Luzardo was able to buckle down after a leadoff double in the sixth and strike out the next three batters as he reached 101 pitches (67 strikes).

“I think his next step is there's times when he just gets going fast,” Mattingly said. “That's the biggest thing is just like there's times it's not so much the game speeding up, I think he just gets in a hurry, seems to make pitches, and once he gets the ball back, he wants to throw the next one. I know that's one of the things that [pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. has] talked about with him, like, ‘Sometimes you've got to slow down to let things settle in.’ So that's probably some of the biggest things. His stuff obviously is really good. His offspeed's good. Throws hard, a couple of different fastballs, so his stuff is really good.”

Luzardo, who turned 25 on Friday, became Miami’s latest starting pitcher to dominate. The Marlins will go as far as their rotation takes them, and that’s a big reason for their recent success. Through the last turn, Braxton Garrett, Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Pablo López and Luzardo have combined for a 0.96 ERA (three earned runs in 28 innings).

Dating back to last week’s two-game set with the Mets, Miami has gone 5-2 against contending New York, Milwaukee and Atlanta.

“Last rotation through, everyone saw the potential,” Luzardo said. “Just when we're all on and we're all focused in mindset and put toward that goal, I think we can all dominate. We have a special group. Obviously [Trevor Rogers] got hurt, but he's another one, super special guy, and we have so many down behind us as well. I feel like we're deep, and I feel like we have a lot of guys that are focusing on the same goal and just want to keep progressing.”